Racism
Racism is the irrational hatred of persons based on their assigned racial identity that may take the form of a political ideology premised on the un-scientific belief that races exist as biologically distinct populations and are naturally unequal in physical strength, health, intelligence and/or moral character. Ta-Nehisi Coates defines racism as the "need to describe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them." (Source: Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015. page 7). This ideology is commonly deployed by conservatives and fascists to disguise and justify the inequalities among socio-economic classes as well as war crimes against non-combatants. Note however that before the Civil Rights Movement, liberals like U.S. President Woodrow Wilson were also willing to make public policy based on racist beliefs. For example, Wilson re-segregated Federal buildings in Washington, DC. Political mobilization using appeals to racial antipathy or anxiety, once openly and now typically coded in euphemism, are commonplace in elections. For example, Newt Gingrich described U.S. President Barack Obama as the "food stamp president," claiming incorrectly that food stamp enrollment had surged under his presidency. White Americans typically believe that African-Americans are more likely to be recipients of food stamp and other welfare provision. American politicians as slimy as Gingrich are prone to exploiting both race hate and class hate, that latter being middle class hostility toward and anxiety about falling into the ranks of the working poor. The more blatant racism of the American conservative/former rock star Ted Nugent was on display in January 2014 when he described Pres. Barack Obama as a "subhuman mongrel." PEP contributor Proxima Centauri on the page titled Israel v genocide on the Liberapedia wiki who asserts that Arabs have always intended committing genocide against Jews. In contemporary America the most egregious publically expressed racism against whites and Asians is expressed by Black Hebrew Israelites who advocate murdering, raping and enslaving them. They also express virulent misogyny and homophobia. Passionate hatred expressed in social media may allow anti-Zionism to transform into anti-Semitism Charging opponents with racism is increasingly common. Thus Glen Ford describes U.S. opposition to the Maduro government in Venezuela as a "racist, imperialist war." He goes on to cast the read the collective mind of hundreds of millions of non-whites globally by writing that, "The darker peoples of the world understand clearly that what is at stake is the sovereignty of nations and people’s right to self-determination." The "social media made me do it" is a popular excuse when racist provocateurs are exposed and prosecuted. Tea Party * Tea Party Gets Overtly Racist * The Office of Pre-Emptive Reparations Crude U-Tube Parody by Racist Local Pennsylvania Politician External Links * Republicans’ Whites-Only Gambit Will Spell Doom Brian Beutler. Salon. August 7, 2013 * Company Parts Ways with PR Exec after AIDS in Africa Tweet Brian Stetler. CNN. December 21, 2013. * Black woman assaulted at Donald Trump rally by "White nationalist" Links * Political Lexicon * Ken Crow * Casual Racism * Abolitionist Porn * Identity Politics